Bihar bridge collapse: Supreme Court pulls up state govt for reinstating suspended officials

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Bihar Government saying officials suspended following incidents of bridge collapse were brought back after the furore died down.

“Certain officers were duly suspended after the bridge collapse incident only to be brought back after the furore over the incident died down,” a bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna said.

The bench, however, transferred a PIL filed by advocate Brajesh Singh on safety of bridges in the wake of several bridge collapses in Bihar to the Patna High Court.

The Patna High Court could monitor, preferably on a monthly basis, the steps taken to ensure structural and safety audits of bridges in Bihar, it said and asked the petitioner, state authorities and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to appear before the high court on May 14.

The state government said it had inspected around 10,000 bridges in the state. In its affidavit filed in response to the PIL, the state government talked about a number of schemes and policies but did not provide any reason for bridge collapse incidents, the bench noted.

“We have gone through the counter (affidavit). We are transferring the case to Patna (High Court). In the counter affidavit, they (state authorities) have given details of what they are doing…,” the CJI said.

As Bihar witnessed multiple bridge-collapse incidents in quick succession, the Supreme Court on July 29, 2024 issued notices to the state government, NHAI and others on Singh’s PIL seeking directions to them to undertake a structural audit of bridges in the state by an expert committee.

Pointing out that 10 bridge-collapse incidents have been reported from Siwan, Saran, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran and Kishanganj districts of Bihar over a fortnight, Singh raised concerns about the safety and longevity of the bridges in the state that witnesses floods and heavy rains during the monsoon.

The top court had asked the Bihar Government, NHAI, Road Construction Department Additional Chief Secretary, Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd Chairperson and Rural Works Department Additional Chief Secretary to respond to Singh’s PIL that sought directions to identify bridges that can be either strengthened or demolished based on its findings of the expert committee.

Earlier, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had directed the road construction and rural works departments to conduct a survey of all old bridges in the state and identify those requiring immediate repair.

Singh, however, had sought real-time monitoring of bridges as per the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways norms.

Describing Bihar as the most flood-prone state in India, Singh said the total flood-affected area in the state was 68,800 square km — 73.06 per cent of its total area.

“Hence such routine accrual of the incident of falling bridges in Bihar is more disastrous as the lives of people at large are at stake. Therefore, the urgent intervention of this court is required to save the lives of people, as the under-construction bridges before its accomplishment collapsed routinely,” Singh had submitted.